Amid a debate over what motivated the alleged gunman to carry out this week's deadly mass shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper, President Trump took a break from his usual anti-media rhetoric to condemn the killings.

Justice Anthony Kennedy’s surprise announcement on Wednesday that he is retiring from the Supreme Court reverberated throughout Washington, where President Trump and his fellow Republicans are now poised to cement conservative control of the high court.

The president tweeted that “Harley-Davidson should stay 100 per cent in America,” despite the fact that it already has some production outside of the United States. “I’ve done so much for you, and then this,” Mr Trump said. The American brand, synonymous with American motorcycle culture, was founded in 1903 in Wisconsin.